Follow Us

More

Ant-Man & The Wasp Adds Michelle Pfeiffer As Janet Van Dyne

Marvel Studios kicked off their San Diego Comic-Con Hall H panel with a surprise, announcing Michelle Pfeiffer has been cast as Janet Van Dyne in Ant-Man & the Wasp. While all eyes are currently on a number of upcoming Marvel Cinematic Universe releases, the follow up to Ant-Man has taken a back seat in the news. Marvel has still been developing the follow-up, though, and has seen a few cast members added in recent weeks. Hannah John-Kamen, Randall Park, and Walton Goggins both joined the ensemble, but the big question was who would be playing the original Wasp, Janet Van Dyne.

Janet was shown ever so briefly in the first movie both in the suit and in a photograph, but in both instances her face was concealed as she had not yet been cast. She has now, with Michelle Pfeiffer stepping into the MCU.

Marvel Studios made the announcement at the start of their SDCC presentation in a video of Paul Rudd and Michael Pena recapping the MCU. It was here that they revealed the addition of Pfeiffer to the cast as the highly-coveted role. While the size of her role has not been confirmed, she should be a big piece of the sequel.

Bringing in Pfeiffer continues the current trend of big-time superhero movies recruiting A-listers to fill out their casts. In fact, this is not Pfeiffer's first time getting into the comic book movie world. She famously played Catwoman in Batman Returns alongside fellow MCU vet Michael Keaton. Fans interested in seeing what she is currently up to will be able to see her in mother!and Murder on the Orient Express later this year.

This was not the only big role Marvel announced for the sequel, either. Along with announcing that Pfeiffer will play Hank Pym's long lost wife, Marvel confirmed Lawrence Fishburne to be playing his old best friend Bill Foster aka Goliath. The inclusion of both characters should give more backstory for Pym and further push the history of superheroes in the MCU backwards. Maybe there will even be a flashback scene to the original trio of Ant-Man, Wasp, and Goliath dealing with an instance back before they retired their suits, in the sequel.

Either way, Pfeiffer adds further experience to the film and gives Michael Douglas another Hollywood icon to interact with in the sequel. Once she is returned from the Quantum Realm - where she apparently has aged appropriately - hopefully Pfeiffer will be given the chance to stick around for more than just one movie, allowing Hope (Evangeline Lilly) a chance to have a better family experience - and learn from the original Wasp herself.